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4-sided Island for a Walk-in Closet

About: DIY Montreal is all about woodworking & DIY projects. I post how-to videos on my YouTube channel, as well as step-by-step tutorials on my website www.diymontreal.com. Builds include mainly woodshop proje...
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This 4-sided walk-in closet island is packed with storage solutions. Two sides have open shelving to store 32+ pairs of shoes. The other 2 sides have sliding barn doors for “hidden storage”. You can make the barn door hardware yourself, and I’ll show you how!

Step 2: Cabinet Frame Prep Work

The cabinet is fully assembled using 1-¼” pocket screws, but before assembling, I prepped all my parts for later on by making the shelf pin holes for all the adjustable shelves, and the slots to attach the top using Z-clips.

Next I pre-drilled all the pocket holes.

Step 3: Assemble the Cabinet

I assembled the walls to the back panels to make to U-shaped formations.

I then positioned both on top of my bottom panel and screwed them down with pocket screws.

Lastly I slipped in the middle divider and fastened it with pockets screws.

Step 4: Toe Kick

I clamped together the panels to form the toe kick base and assemble it with pocket screws.

I flipped the cabinet on its side and attached it to the underside of the cabinet using pocket hole screws, making sure to leave 1″ spacing on all sides.

Step 5: Face Framing

To dress up the cabinet a little, I decided to add some face framing made from 1×2 pine boards. I attached them with some glue and brad nails.

I also used the same method to cap the front side of all my long shelves.

Step 6: Build the Doors

To build the doors I used ¼ birch plywood as a backer, and added some 1×2 pine framing that I glued and nailed in from the back of the ¼ inch panel to create a 3D effect.

To add the diagonal piece, I simply laid my piece of wood on top of the door and lined up the corners, then traced my cut line with a ruler, lining it up visually. Not exact science, but it worked out perfectly.

I carried the piece over to my miter saw and adjusted the angle of the saw until it lined up with my marking.

Step 7: Paint Prep & Painting

Before moving onto paint, I filled all the nail holes and cracks using DryDex, a spackling that goes on pink and dries white.

Once dry, I sanded everything down until smooth using 120-grit sandpaper.

I vacuumed up all the dust and carried the base, shelves and doors out to my spray tent. I went with an alkyd enamel finish paint that I applied with my HomeRight Super Finish Max Extra HVLP paint sprayer. I applied 3 coats, lightly sanding with 320-grit sandpaper in between each coat.

Step 8: Build the Tabletop

I used finish pine to build the top, which means it’s already been jointed and planed square. Therefore all I need to do is cut the 2x6x6 boards in half so I’ll have six pieces.

I applied a generous amount of glue to all the edges with a glue brush and clamped the boards together to form the table top.

I used a wet rag to wipe of all the squeeze out before it had time to dry.

Step 9: Trim the Tabletop

I trimmed down and squared the tabletop by marking it with a T-square and using a straight edge and my circular saw to make the cut.

I then sanded it down to using 80-grit, the moving up to 120-grit and finally 180-grit.

To smooth the edges, I used my trim router with a round over bit to round over the edges, going around the tabletop in a counterclockwise direction.

Step 10: Tabletop Finish

To finish the top, I skipped the stain since I wanted a natural wood look and I decided to try out wipe-on poly for the first time. I applied 3 coats. For a smooth finish, I let each coat dry 24 hours, then lightly sanded it with 320-grit sandpaper before applying the next coat.

To attach the top to the cabinet, I used some tabletop fasteners, also called Z-clips. This will allow for wood movement as the tabletop expands and contracts with the seasons. I simply slipped them into the pre-cut slots and screwed them into the underside of the tabletop.